Deep Water
by Honest Beauty
Summary: Set after Return of the Joker and way before Epilogue. Dana is kidnapped for a seemingly routine ransom, but the kidnappers aren't playing by the rules. Can Batman save her in time and prevent his girlfriend from discovering the man beneath the mask? Please read and review!


"Deep Water"

Disclaimer: I don't own Batman Beyond, the characters. This story has not been beta'd.

"What did you change this time round?" Terry asked his mentor as the older man indicated he was finished fiddling with the suit. The young man picked it up as Bruce responded.

"Nothing earth shattering. Just updated some of the hardware and changed the re-breather design."

"Again? This is the fourth design!" Bruce raised an eyebrow but continued as if Terry hadn't spoken.

"It incorporates the oxygen scrubbers used in the ISO-rings, but for the suit I had to hook the device up to two tubes that deploy into your mouth, since your suit doesn't have the field." Terry nodded. "The scrubbers are activated by your ribcage expanding and contracting, pumping air in when you inhale and sucking it out when you exhale. So now you won't have to worry about your oxygen running out."

"Great. I'm gonna suit up and try it out." Terry walked over to the screen Bruce had installed for privacy and quickly changed out of his street clothes and into the batsuit. He walked quickly over to where Bruce was now on the super computer. The young man activated the re-breather, feeling two small tubes hook into the corners of his mouth. They extended and retracted with the movement of his lips, and the tubes themselves reminded Terry of the bendable straws he'd used as a kid. He also noticed that the nostril holes in the suit closed themselves off when the re-breather was activated.

"Done playing around?" Bruce asked dryly. Rather than answering him, Terry just deactivated the re-breather and started walking to the car. As he left the cave, his mentor's voice came over the radio: "Keep a close eye on the docks and bay tonight."

"Dana! DANA!" the familiar voice cut through the fog in her brain and she opened her eyes to see her father's worried face on the vid-screen in front of her. She would have responded but there was something over her mouth…

"Well Mr. Tan, you can see your daughter is alive and well. If you want her to REMAIN that way you'll transfer 50,000 creds to the account number we gave you within 30 minutes. Remember, if the cops or Batman show up, you'll be planning her funeral." The speaker smiled nastily at Dana, who rapidly discovered she was gagged, handcuffed, and anklecuffed on the deck of a small barge. The vid screen was pulled away from where it had been aimed at her face. "I see the credits, and I activate the tracker. Tick tock, Mr. Tan." He finished and ended the call.

Dana was completely confused. _What the hell happened?_ The young woman struggled to remember, the wooziness swamping slowing her brain's processing speed to a snail's crawl. She looked up and around to see four men, all in police uniforms. Their nametags read "Martinez", "Jameson", "Suzuki", and "Reynolds". Reynolds had been the one talking to her father, and seemed to be in charge. They were all on a small barge in what she assumed was Gotham Bay.

He kept an eagle eye on the screen, and Suzuki kept a similar one on her. The other two were scanning the surrounding water. Dana shook her head to clear it and focused. She remembered that Chelsea had convinced her to go with the blonde to check out a new club. They had heard that it was "totally schway" but it had been a total bust, at least for her. Chelsea had found a cute guy to go on a date with and piss of her father at the same time, and Dana was happy for her, but that meant she had to take the train home, since they had gone to the club in Chelsea's car.

She remembered getting off the train and walking towards home. Two toughs had appeared out of an alley, flanking her. They harassed her and had just grabbed her arms when a police car started to pass by. The car had stopped quickly and the pair of police inside had quickly helped her. They had cuffed both men and tossed them in the car. The taller and older pulled out a recorder to get her statement while the other one asked if she was alright, putting his gloved hand on her shoulder.

After that…Dana couldn't remember anything but a stinging pain on her shoulder. Frowning she looked up and inspected their faces. The police she remembered were Reynolds and Martinez! And the other two were the dregs that had roughed her up. _It was a set up! They kidnapped for a quick ransom! The bastards are crooked cops…if they even are cops, no way to tell in this town._ The young woman thought, frowning in anger

"Tan only has 15 minutes left Reynolds, you sure he's gonna come through?" That was Suzuki.

"Don't worry about it man, he'll cough it up." The man reassured with a casual wave of his hand. A discreet ding sounded from the device. "Oh look, the creds just came through now."

"Well, let's get on with this." Martinez said, leaning down to attach a tracker to her handcuff chain and turning it on. Then he and Reynolds attached a roughly nine foot chain to the chain of her handcuffs and a six foot piece of chain to her anklecuff chain. The other end of each chain was hooked up to a hundred pound weight. Dana wondered why they were bothering with that, since she was already immobilized and silenced. As they roughly hauled her to her feet, the young woman saw that a small speedboat was bobbing in the water next to the barge, presumably to be used by her kidnappers.

Her thoughts were sidetracked by the sounds of grunting and metal grating against metal. She whipped her head back to the weight to find two of the men pushing the weight towards a part of the vessel without a side rail. Dana tried to shout "What the hell are you doing?!" but the gag turned her cry into unintelligible mumbles. Reynolds must have figured out what she was trying to say, because her leered unpleasantly down at her as he and Jameson flanked her sides.

"You really think we would let you live? That's so cute." He chuckled cruelly as he and Jameson started dragging her resisting body behind the weight. The other men sniggered as panic struck her.

"Seems an awful waste don't it boss?" Jameson asked, raking his gaze up and down Dana's chained form. The other two paused in their progress to look back at her with the same hunger in their gazes as the man to her left. She quickly turned away from their stares to look up into the thoughtful face of Reynolds.

"It does at that." An icy spike of fear shot down Dana's spine. They were planning to rape her before the murdered her! "But, if we take time to have some fun, the chances that the cops or Batman will show up goes way up. Is getting a piece of her cute ass worth the risk of ending up in jail?" the men grumbled but shook their heads and the started shoving and dragging again.

Her imminent death looming in front of her, Dana screamed behind the gag and struggled even harder, desperately trying to free herself. Her efforts seem to amuse the men, but didn't really hinder them at all. They were at the edge now, and Dana was panting in fear as the weight started going overboard

"Alright so that's three thefts, one smuggling operation, and one arson attempt I've stopped tonight." Terry summarized as he directed the car to run a quick sweep over the docks one last time.

"Good, don't forget to check the bay itself. Criminals have been slowly realizing that the docks are not as good a place to conduct business nowadays." Bruce's gravelly voice held a note of amusement. Terry nodded and obediently went into a climb to get a larger view of Gotham Bay. Pulling the car to a hovering stop, the young Batman swept the bay with the car's onboard infrared camera.

"I've got something here. Looks like a small barge, I'm going to check it out." Suiting action to words, the teen directly the car in as silently as he could, trying to sneak up on his possible prey. He brought up the telescopic function and had a look.

"Well, THAT looks perfectly normal." Terry muttered sarcastically. He saw four men and a woman on the deck, and it looked like the woman was chained to a weight that the men were pushing toward the edge. "I'm going in." he informed Bruce, trying to get a good look at the men and any weapons they might have.

As he was reaching up to the release bars, Terry saw the woman attempt to jerk backwards, her head turning up at the effort. His blood boiled and his face twisted into a snarl as he saw the woman's face.

"That's Dana!" he barked, to himself or Bruce, he was sure and didn't care. Quickly exiting the vehicle, the teen extended his wings and fired his rockets, angling to hit the two guys pushing the weight simultaneously. The weight was almost tipping over the edge; half of the base was over the side of the barge. The men didn't see him at all, but they felt his fists as they smashed into their faces.

"Batman!" the biggest one snarled as he and the fourth guy abandoned Dana to attack him. Normally Terry would have made a smartassed remark at that, but he was too pissed off and worried about saving Dana. He quickly took them on as one of the first two joined in. He knocked the two smaller men's head together and looked on with satisfaction when their bodies fell bonelessly to the ground, indicating that they had been knocked out. The smaller man that had been holding Dana tried to jump him, but he sidestepped and gave the dreg a shove as he sailed past. The man's forehead cracked up against a large container before falling bonelessly to the deck.

"No! I ain't going back to jail!" the large guy yelled and Batman turned to see him pushing on the weight, clearly trying to force him to save Dana and let him escape.

"Wanna bet dreg?" Terry snarled and fired a batarang restraint at him. It twisted rapidly around the thug, binding him quickly, but he threw himself against the weight as he started to fall, grinning evilly. Batman watched in horror as the weight dropped off the barge. He heard his girlfriend's muffled scream of terror as she disappeared overboard.

"DANA!" Terry didn't realize he was yelling her name as he started after her. Gunfire into his side stopped him. Looking over at the man he had just tied up, the teen saw that he had somehow gotten his laser gun out and was firing at him. Batman ripped the gun away and slammed the man's head against the deck, knocking him out. He then turned and dove into the icy water of the bay, activating the re-breather.

He brought up his night vision as he used his rocket boosters to dive quickly, only half listening to Bruce berating him for screaming Dana's name. _Hold on Dana, I'm coming!_

Dana felt herself being dragged down into the cold depths of the bay as she frantically tried to break the chains binding her to the weight. She hadn't been able to draw a full breath before she was pulled under, and her lungs were burning terribly, her mind gibbering in fear. The pressure of the water against her lungs was immense and she felt bubbles escaping from behind the gag.

Suddenly she felt the gag being pulled down around her neck and a pair of lips settling over her now slightly open ones. At the same time, two large, strong hands grasped either side of her head, preventing her from pulling away. She still tried anyway, not knowing who it was. It could be some sicko that got his rocks off of kissing drowning people!

She couldn't pull away, the person was too strong, so she sealed her lips determined to die unmolested. She wanted to open her eyes to look at the person but she had never been able to keep her eyes open underwater, and it was far too dark to see anyway. White and red spots danced before her closed eyes and her limbs were tingling with oxygen deprivation. Dana felt her consciousness slipping away from her as she continued her fatal journey downward.

She was fighting him for some reason, and fading fast. Bruce seemed to notice Dana's slide into unconsciousness.

"She's fighting you?" he asked and saw the infrared filtered image bob slightly, indicating an affirmative. The older man scowled as he thought quickly. _He could pry her jaw open, but that could hurt her as well as let in water, using the pressure points on her jaw to make the muscles go flaccid would take too long, assuming Terry even knows how. She's almost unconscious…_

Terry waited impatiently for his mentor's much needed advice. _Dana's running out of time old man, hurry up!_ He thought desperately.

"Terry, she is practically unconscious, use your tongue to force her lips open and breathe into her. As soon as the oxygen hits her system she should realize what is going on and stop fighting you." The young man blanched at Bruce's suggestion, wanting to yell at him. _He's telling me to force a kiss on her! I can't do that to her!_ "Now McGinnis!" the voice cracked like a whip and Terry reluctantly complied, tightening his grip on her head and forcing his tongue past her lips.

His stomach twisted unpleasantly and Batman tried not to think about what he was doing as he pushed the appendage in further to separate her teeth. There was no resistance, which somehow made it worse. Terry used his thumbs to hold her jaw down as he withdrew his tongue and exhaled to trigger the re-breather into sucking the old air out of his and Dana's lungs. He then inhaled sharply, prompting the re-breather to push recycled air into both sets of lungs.

Dana felt a tongue push past her numb lips, forcing her teeth apart. She would have bite down on the offending appendage but she just didn't have the energy. A moment later she felt the tongue leave and felt the remaining air being sucked out of her lungs. Before she could panic further, cool dry air gusted into her mouth, bringing awareness with it.

_The person is trying to save me, not play sick games on me._ Dana realized, but wondered why the person had chosen such an odd way to save her. _Maybe it's the type of re-breather he has. Is he even a 'he'?_ She also noticed that the air pressure and vacuum was following a set pattern, like a person's breathing.

Suddenly his (it seemed like a guy) tongue was back in her mouth. _Hey buster, just because you are saving me doesn't mean—oh!_ Dana's train of thought derailed abruptly as she felt a small metal tube at the corner of her lips. As his tongue hastily retreated, the air once more was pulled from her lungs, but the suction was stronger this time. Dana used to tip of her tongue to examine the tube. It got stuck momentarily to the end, before being pushed away by a stream of air. _It must be part of the re-breather._ The teen determined as she traced the tube to the junction of the person's lips, the process of figuring out what it was helped to calm her down, along with the somewhat steady stream of air. Dana rapidly concluded that the re-breather was following the breathing pattern of her rescuer and forced herself to relax and let the re-breather do the work of filling and emptying her lungs for her, rather than fighting a useless battle.

_Almost got it…there!_ Terry breathed a strictly mental sigh of relief as he managed to bend and insert one of the tubes into Dana's mouth, and quickly pulled the appendage back, before his fiery girlfriend could decide to bite it. A moment later, he felt her tongue hesitantly probing the tube, tracing it back to his lips. He then sensed her relaxing and felt her lean slightly into him, and stop fighting the air flow pattern. He was grateful for that, it was hard enough to control his breathing rate without the extra pressure and vacuum from her lungs. But he was totally unprepared for what happened next.

Her tongue came into his mouth. It was all he could do not to jerk back in surprise, which would have caused both of them to get a mouthful of water. As it was he inhaled sharply as his heart pounded and her tongue swept across his mouth to find the other tube, brushing against his own tongue in the process. Terry strangled the moan that threatened to escape his throat. _God, calm down! She didn't mean for that to be incredibly erotic, she was probably just making sure we both had enough air or something like that._

Dana pulled her tongue back into her own mouth, satisfied that her rescuer was only sharing his oxygen, and that he too had a little tube in his mouth. Granted, the teen figured she must have startled him, since there had been an abrupt change in the air cycling and his fingers had spasmed against her skull.

Despite his mental command, his heart still pounded and his groin tightened. Mercifully, the old man didn't say anything, although Terry knew he would have seen the spike in his heart rate readout. _It's bad enough getting turned on by accident while trying to rescue your girlfriend WITHOUT having him making snarky quips at my lack of hormonal restraint._ Wanting to shake his head to clear it, Terry resisted and fired his boosters briefly to shift his body down in the water so that he was now parallel to Dana, rather than perpendicular. Finding the chain connected to her feet was a little difficult, but he managed it, activating the magnetic on his boot to ensure that he was descending at the same speed as her.

Shifting one hand to the back of his girlfriend's head, Batman used the other to feel his way down her neck, shoulder, and arm to the cuff biting into her wrist. She seemed to understand what he was doing and pressed her lips more firmly against his own. He returned the pressure and brought his other hand down.

The cuffs were run of the mill police cuffs, the kind Batman could have karate chopped and broken with ease. But that was on land, and where he could see where he was aiming. So Gotham's knight opted for brute force, pulling the chain connected to the weight from the cuff chains until a link gave, allowing her hands to come up a bit.

Dana felt the weight on her wrists disappear with a jerk, and wanted to bring her hands up to feel who her rescuer was (she had a suspicion) but he was still holding the chain connecting her wrists together. His hands shifted to grab the bands of metal surrounding her sore wrists and pulled. A moment later, her hands jerked out to either side of her as he literally pulled the chain apart.

Then his hands gently grasped hers and raised them up, placing them on what felt like the back of a cloth covered neck. She kept one hand where he left it, but the other she let wander up, bringing it up to feel the back of his jaw and up further. Her questing fingers traced a hard, cloth covered, pointy object starting where his ears should have been. _Batman! It is him after all!_ She thought with relief, bringing her hand back down and mimicking his earlier position of holding the sides of his head to keep his mouth firmly against hers.

Terry raised an eyebrow under his mask as he felt Dana's hands grip either side of his head after her detour, and she leaned in closer and relaxed completely. Obviously the hand that traced his earpiece told her who her rescuer was. _Who ELSE did she think I could be?_ Terry thought exasperatedly before focusing on more important matters, like disconnecting her from that damn weight. He could have easily lifted both her and the weight, but that could have injured her wrists, ankles, or both.

Grateful that she was now the one making sure their lips didn't disconnect, he placed one hand on her back and the other behind her knees, and gently folded her body down into a fetal position so he could reach her ankles.

Feeling his hands on her ankles, Dana tried to keep herself folded up to help him out. As soon as he started bending her knees, she had guessed what he was doing. As he gripped the chains, the teen was struck by how kind and patient the Tomorrow Knight was. He could have easily given her one or two breaths of air, disconnected, freed her, and taken her back to the surface without her dying, but instead he took the time to make sure she was as comfortable and calm as possible. Somehow, it reminded her of Terry. A sharp tug and sudden slowing of her descent indicated that he had broken the last chain connecting her to the weight.

She felt Batman tugging on her legs gently and followed his lead, so that they ended up "standing" in the water and facing each other. One hand came around her waist and pulled her flush against him and the other came to rest at the back of her head, prompting her to return her hands to their spot at the back of his neck. Their position reminded her of something, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

Terry gently fired his thrusters, only to feel Dana's lips slide down his face, almost allowing water into their mouths. Her arms tightened around his neck abruptly, her fingernails biting into his suit as he felt her vocal chords vibrating in a muffled scream. Terry's chest spasmed from a rush of fear fueled adrenaline as he killed the thrusters and moved his hand down from the back of her head to the base of it. He pressed her head up and inward, forcing her lips to slide back up to their original position.

Dana calmed down as he secured her more firmly and tried again. This time she didn't lose traction, even if she felt like her lips would bruise from the force of his hand on the base of her head. She relaxed again, knowing that Batman would keep her safe. As she did, a sense of Deja Vu struck her. She had been in almost the same position earlier that day, when Terry had been kissing her goodbye.

In fact the position was the same as all the times he had kissed her deeply: she on her tip-toes, stabilized by his arm and her tilted head supported by his other hand as he dipped his head down for their lips to meet. _Don't jump to conclusions! It's probably is just a coincidence!_ Dana scolded herself, but her rebellious mind called up all those times Terry had cancelled their dates, the strange injuries, and his constant fatigue. Then she thought about all the times that those events coincided with news bytes of Batman's latest antics the next day. And Terry had gotten that job at almost the same time that Gotham's knight had mysteriously reappeared…

Then there was when she was being pulled under the water. It had been hard to tell with the splashing and the panic, but Dana was now sure that she had heard her name being shouted. It couldn't have been the dreg who captured her, so that left Batman as the source. _How would he know my name? If Batman were Terry then him shouting my name would make sense…_

So caught up in her thoughts, the young woman barely realized the lessening of pressure against her ears, signaling that they were close to the surface of the bay.

_Come on almost there…_ Terry thought, his eyes on the dwindling numbers in the lower right hand corner of his visor. He had been steadily and slowly accelerating the whole time, so those numbers were going down faster, rapidly approaching zero. _There!_ Batman crowed in his mind as they broke the surface of the water, rising up into the air.

He immediately disengaged his lips from hers, pulling back to look down at her face. He was puzzled why she hadn't opened her eyes yet. But as she brought one hand down to wipe at her eyes, Terry remembered how Dana couldn't stand to have water in her eyes. He brought himself to a hovering stop above the water as she opened her eyes and returned her hand to the back of his neck.

"Are you alright Miss?" He asked, using his deepest and roughest 'Batman' voice and praying that he wouldn't slip up again.

"Y-yeah, I'm just cold." Dana shivered convulsively as she replied. His voice certainly didn't sound like Terry's voice, but if he could be pitching his voice lower than it normally was.

"Okay, I'm going to need your help to rearrange your body so I can fly us back to shore." She nodded in understanding as she looked down and realized that they were hovering above the surface of the water. The young woman felt completely safe around him, trusting the hero who had saved her life multiple times.

"What do you need me to do?" she asked fighting to keep her teeth from chattering, the wind was blowing briskly around them, although the Tomorrow Knight was sheltering her from the leading edge of it. She put aside that thought as Batman guided her into twisting her hips in his arms and pulling up her legs so that he could bring the hand that had been supporting her head around to hook under her knees.

She saw his glider wings pop out from their hiding place to extend fully. A second later an involuntary squeak escaped her as Batman angled forward to fly towards the shore. Dana was torn between wanting to see where they were going and holding on for dear life. She went with holding on and tried to keep as still as possible.

Now that she was safe and on her way to land, her mind would not leave her alone, calling up her previous thoughts and new ones, including that blurred picture of Batman without the mask on and Max's speculations about Batman's identity. With all those thoughts running through her head, it was easy to think that Terry could be Batman, but she wasn't sure. _And I can't exactly ask him either. I can just see it now: "Excuse me, Batman, but I was wondering if you are actually my boyfriend, Terry McGinnis." Yeah, THAT would go over like a lead balloon._

Dana craned her neck to look up at his face, but he was focused on the docks that she could just see in the distance. She jumped in his arms as he suddenly spoke, and obviously not to her.

"Report, McGinnis." Wayne's gravelly voice sounded much calmer now, but still a little peeved. _Probably over me shouting Dana's name._ He thought ruefully. At least she hadn't seemed to have remembered her name being called, although she had thoughtful frown on her face. He prayed that she wouldn't remember the call and figure things out.

"What, did the vid-link stop working or something?" He asked snarkily, feeling Dana twitch in his arms. At his mentor's growled explanation of having to make a call, he continued hurriedly.

"I saved the victim and am flying her back to shore. She is cold and wet, but unharmed otherwise. I assume the call was to let the police know about the dregs ready for pick up on the barge?" Strangely, Dana's hands clutched his neck even tighter and she pressed her face into his shoulder at his mention of the police. But Bruce's reply brought him back to topic.

"Yes I did, and Barbara says that she and paramedics are waiting at the docks, and that she wants you to bring her to them. Oh, and she wants to speak to you too."

"The Commish wants to speak to me too? Why?" Batman raised his eyebrow in surprise, this didn't happen too often.

"McGinnis!" Bruce growled warningly.

"Okay, okay, keep your shirt on old man. I'll be there in three minutes or so." When his mentor didn't reply, Batman turned his focus back to the docks, and to the odd action of his passenger.

Dana couldn't control herself when Batman mentioned the police. They could be more of the fake police! She forced herself to take a deep breath and relax. _There's no way Batman would hand me over to fake or corrupt cops._ She told herself firmly as she heard her savior ask another question to whoever was at the other end of his com or cellphone link.

But his response made her jaw drop. How many times had she heard Terry say the _exact_ same thing to Mr. Wayne?! And in that identically exasperated tone?

"Miss?" His tone was gentle as she looked up into eyeholes now looking down at her. Seeing he had her attention, Gotham's hero continued. "I'm going to take you to the police commissioner and her staff. She wants to get your statement." An icy chill ran up her spine and she surprised both of them by the vehemence of her response.

"No! I don't want to go anywhere near them!" she cried frantically, clinging even harder to him. She couldn't take the chance that those kidnappers were just criminals dressed as cops!

Terry grunted as he corrected for her abrupt movement and his surprise at her fervent denial. _What the hell? Why would she be terrified of the police?_ He wondered as they reached the docks. His girlfriend was trembling in his arms and her arms would have been choking him if the suit was protecting him.

"What do you mean?" Terry just barely remembered to keep his Batman tone with her as he made a quick landing and bent over to gently set her down. The prospect of her struggling against him as he flew to Barbara was an uncomfortable and dangerous one. The teen wasn't sure that he could maintain a safe flight while holding onto to his girlfriend. _I gotta figure out what has her so spooked!_ Batman couldn't help but notice that she still clung to him, forcing him to stay bent over or let her hang from her death grip on his neck. "Miss, please let go of my neck. You're holding too tightly."

Dana flushed as she hastily unwound her arms from Batman's neck with a quick apology as he straightened with what sounded like a sigh of relief. _Way to make a spectacle of yourself!_ She berated herself as she hugged herself, feeling the cuffs biting into her wrists. She attempted to step back, but forgot about the ankle cuffs. A cry escaped her as she felt herself lose her balance. Batman caught her as she started to fall.

"Here, let me take care of those." The hero said and bent down to kneel at her feet. He used some sort of pick to pop open the cuffs swiftly, freeing her. He coiled up the cuff, the tracker still attached to it, and the remainder of the attached chain and hung it on his belt. He repeated the process with the broken cuffs on her wrists. Dana rubbed her wrists reflexively as he used a batarang to carefully slice through the gag around her neck.

"Miss, why did you…" he seemed to be looking for a polite way of putting it.

"Freak out on you?" she supplied and he nodded. She sighed and shivered. He reached into one of his utility belt compartments and pulled out an ultra-thin blanket that he shook out and placed over her shoulders. Dana thanked him before telling him how she ended up getting kidnapped. The blanket was much warmer than its thinness would suggest and she had stopped shivering by the time she was finished.

"So you think that your kidnappers could have been corrupt cops and you are afraid of encountering any others?" She nodded and looked down. It wasn't the whole truth, but she didn't want to tell him that she felt absolutely safe with him and didn't want him to leave her. The only other person that could make her feel this way was Terry…which brought her back to her suspicion that Terry _was_ Batman. She heard him sigh before he placed his hands gently on her shoulders, causing her to look up into his eyes, or at least his mask's eyeholes.

"I have dealt with Commissioner Gordon personally many times, she's one of the good guys. Anyone with her is one of the good guys too, alright?" Terry saw that she was almost convinced. "I trust her. And she needs to talk to me too, so I will be right there with you ok?" that seemed to do the trick. His girlfriend relaxed and even smiled a bit as she nodded. But then her eyes gleamed with thoughtful suspicion, the same look she had worn on the way over when he had sneaked a quick glance at her. _What in the world? DID she hear me yell her name? _ It was gone the next moment though.

Dana noticed his confused apprehension and quickly masked her expression. She was 90% sure Batman was Terry, but what if she was wrong? _How can I be sure he is Terry? I think he is, but what if he isn't? There must be another way than pulling off his mask…wait a minute!_ An idea popped into her head, one that would be harmless either way.

"Come on, let get you to the paramedics and Commissioner Gordon ok?" she heard him say as he reached to pick her up again.

"Wait." She licked her lips nervously, wondering if she had enough chutzpah to go through with her plan. He paused and stood back up, his eyes questioning her. She took a deep breath and let it out. "I want to thank you for saving my life again." She said. Then, not giving him a chance to reply, the young woman launched herself at the Tomorrow Knight, grabbing his head and pulling it down so his lips met hers in a kiss, swallowing his sound of surprise.

She obviously caught him off guard, but the instant she slipped her tongue past his lips, he returned the favor, deepening the kiss and wrapping his arms around her. That was Dana's last coherent observation before losing herself in the kiss.

Batman was in shock by the sudden turn of events, but as Dana's hot tongue slipped between his lips, the reality of almost losing her hit him like one of Big Time's punches. He found himself kissing her back fiercely and sensuously, his arms coming around to hold and support her as hers came down to the back of his neck like always.

Then he was lost in the kiss, losing track of everything else. Her tongue tangled with his and their breath mingled as Dana angled her head with his prompting, allowing him to further deepen the kiss. _Wait…there is something wrong here._ His mind thought sluggishly, as he tried to pinpoint what exactly was wrong. But then Dana grabbed his lower lip between her teeth and suckled gently, and a flood of lust overcame him as certain parts of him ached for that suckling too.

Dana observed lazily that Batman tasted and felt exactly like Terry as she continued her delightful investigation. _Terry loves when I do that thing with his lip. Let's see how Batman likes it._ Catching her savior's lower lip with her teeth, the young woman pulled the piece of flesh into her mouth and sucked on it, teasing his lip with the tip of her tongue while she was at it.

Dana heard a low moan of pleasure, Batman even sounded like Terry at this point. _But will he…ooh!_ Her thought was cut short when Gotham's hero moved his hand that had been on her back down to her ass and grabbed it firmly, pulling her even closer to him and a growing bulge Dana knew was _not_ his utility belt.

_Okay…99% sure Batman is Terry._ The young woman thought fuzzily. She knew that she should end the kiss, but then he fondled her cheek just the way Terry did, which never failed to turn her on. A moan escaped her throat as she released his now swollen lips to allow his tongue into her mouth once again. She raised her hand to run her fingers through his damnably soft hair, only to encounter one of Batman's earpieces. That was enough to bring her mind back on track and she ended the kiss, slowly pulling away from him as she settled on her feet.

Looking up, she almost giggled; Batman's eyes were still closed, and it looked like he was sporting the same blissful yet disappointed look Terry always had when she ended a kiss.

Terry opened his eyes, that nagging feeling that something was wrong hit him full force when he saw that he was still in the batsuit. _Why did Dana just kiss Batman?_ The young man wondered but then his girlfriend's lips opened again.

"Thank you for saving me…Terry."

As soon as she said Terry's name, Batman's eyes widened and his jaw dropped. He looked like a deer caught in the headlights of a car, and she was now 100% sure that her boyfriend was the Tomorrow Knight. Her fingers found the lip of his mask and she grabbed it. As she started to pull up, his eyes widened even further before they were covered by cloth.

"Wha—Dana don't!" His startled and panicked voice was no longer deep and rough, but Terry's voice, abet muffled. His hands started to come up to stop her, but it was too late. She pulled the mask off and brought it slowly down as she looked up into the wide ice blue eyes of Terry McGinnis.

_Slag, slag, SLAG!_ Terry cursed in his mind as he looked down into Dana's eyes.

"I was right, you are Batman." Terry determined that she must have guessed who he actually was.

"Was that the real reason you kissed me?" He asked hoarsely, hoping to God it was. At her nod Terry relaxed a tiny bit. He saw emotions flashing through her eyes: pride, sadness, surprise, anger. The hero knew that he couldn't talk about it now, and really needed to get his mask back on before someone saw.

He took a quick look around, confirming that no one was watching them as Dana took a step back from him, still holding his mask.

"Dana, please give me the cowl back. If someone sees me without it…" he begged her, holding out his hands. Numbly she complied and he swiftly pulled it back on, just in time to hear Wayne.

"—nnis, what's going on? Why have you not gotten to Barbara yet?" Terry winced, knowing the old man was going to be pissed at him.

"Uh…Dana just guessed my identity and pulled off my cowl." He managed to reply.

"WHAT?! How could you be so careless as to let her even grab the mask?!" Batman winced and saw that Dana was looking up with concern and puzzlement. All the same his question stung, Dana had fought dirty!

"It wasn't my fault! She kissed me! It surprised me." Dana at least had the grace to blush when she heard that.

"Well deal with it quickly, make sure she doesn't talk, and get over to Barbara. She's at pier 16." His mentor snapped and cut the line. Looking up, he saw that they were at pier 15.

Batman sighed and looked up above her head. Dana had managed to cool her blush and followed his line of sight to see the words 'pier 15' on the building behind them. Then she heard the faint sound of police sirens.

"Dana, we need to get over to the commissioner. We'll talk later ok? I promise." He added when she looked unconvinced. Finally she nodded, and he continued. "You can't tell anyone who I am. Otherwise, all of our lives could be in danger."

"Okay, I won't. But you had best tell me everything McGinnis!" she shook her finger up at him. He nodded quickly, and she allowed him to pick her up. She smiled as he prepared to take off again.

"What?" Terry must have seen her smile.

"Now I know why I feel just as safe with Batman as I do you or Dad. It makes sense." She explained and leaned her head against his shoulder as he took off and flew them towards the next pier. Then they rounded a corner and she saw the paramedics and police. She stiffened and shrank against Terry.

"It's alright, I've got you. I'll be staying with you, you're safe." Dana heard him murmur into her ear as he landed next to the ambulance.

His girlfriend reluctantly let the medics sit her down so they could exam her. He caught Barbara's eye and motioned her over. She frowned but came. Quickly he told her the basics of Dana's capture, including her new fear of police. Gordon nodded and sent her officers away, and pulling out a recorder.

With far more gentleness than he had ever heard from her, Barbara coaxed Dana's statement from her. She finished her questions at about the same time the medics finished. He answered her questions as well, and handed over the cuffs and chains.

As the four men were being offloaded from a police boat to a prison van, a car screeched to a halt right beside a squad car. Batman and Gordon raised an eyebrow at the driver's reckless behavior.

"DANA!" Mr. Tan's frantic shout accompanied his hasty exit from the car. Surprisingly the young woman in question shot a quick glance at the Tomorrow Knight before rising to her feet and embracing her father tightly. The medics assured the worried father that all was well physically and that she was free to go home.

Dana accompanied her father to the car and let him help her in. again Barbara saw the teen shoot a lingering look at Batman, like she wanted some kind of signal. The commissioner saw Terry nod slightly out of the corner of her eye, which was apparently enough, for Dana turned to face forward as her father started the car.

As it sped away, the former Batgirl turned on him and nodded her head towards her car, where no one could overhear them.

"Care to explain what that was all about?" she asked dryly, getting a sigh in return.

"Dana…she is Terry's girlfriend, and somehow she guessed my identity." He admitted with a sour expression. "Then she proved it by taking off my mask and now, knowing her, she won't let me rest until I've told her everything." Gordon nodded in understanding.

"May I asked how you let her even get her hands on the mask, let alone pull it off?" she asked critically. Batman winced and looked away.

"It wasn't my fault," he started sulkily. "She kissed me after I almost lost her." he almost mumbled, glaring at her when she couldn't completely stifle her snort of amusement.

"Well, I'm sure he'll give you enough grief for your slip-up that I don't need to add to it." She said, regaining her composure. "Now get out of here before people start talking." She turned away and walked back to the rest, knowing he had already slipped away into the night.

Terry sighed as he finally finished his patrol for the night and headed back towards the cave. He had just gotten off the phone with Dana, after arranging for him to stop by her house tomorrow afternoon to talk.

"This is going to be sooo much fun." The teen grumbled under his breath before yawning. "Well, at least I didn't have to deal with someone like Shriek or Mad Stan tonight." He consoled himself.

"McGinnis! Get to the downtown Gotham bank. Mad Stan is trying to blow it sky high." Bruce's gravelly voice cut across his tired mind like a whip. Batman groaned. _Me and my big mouth!_ He thought as he turned to obey. Seemed like Gotham still needed her knight for the night.

Owari

**Bea here: Oh…My…God! I'm actually updating! Unfortunately not on any of my stories in progress, but fortunately this a one-shot so it's complete! **

**Personal update: I FINALLY graduated college with my BS in chemical engineering and am currently trying to find a job. Key word is trying. Ugh…**

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed this fic. I have two more Batman Beyond storied planned out, just need to flesh them out. They are "The Fake" and "Personal" and both will fit in the continuity of this fic.**

**Ja ne!**


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